The invention relates to a process and a device for revealing impact(s) received by a substrate.
In many industrial fields it is desirable to have available a means enabling impact(s) received by a substrate or a structure to be made perceptible, which would not be made so otherwise. This is the case, for example, with substrates or structures made of metal or of composite material(s) subjected to impacts producing no effect visible to the naked eye but, especially in the case of composite materials, capable of resulting in initiations of failure which are subsequently followed by a deterioration of the material and, consequently, of the structure with highly damaging consequences which it is important to be able to remedy as soon as they are produced. This is the case, inter alia, in the field of aviation, where the invention finds a particularly advantageous application without, however, any limiting nature being associated with this indication.
In some cases it is also desirable to have available a means enabling the intensity of the impact(s) received by the substrate or the structure to be made perceptible.
It is consequently a general objective of the invention to provide a process and a device which enable impact(s) received by a substrate to be revealed.
It is equally an objective of the invention to provide a process and a device which enable the intensity of the impact(s) received by a substrate to be revealed.
It is also an objective of the invention to provide such a process and such a device which are highly reliable and which do not, or only extremely slightly, modify the appearance, the weight and the properties of the substrate or of the structure to be supervised.
It is, again, an objective of the invention to provide such a process and a device for implementing it which, while being highly accurate and reliable, do not reflect the results of the impact(s) received by the substrate in a manner which is immediately perceptible to the eye, but require the use of a means of detection to visualise it, this being for reasons of confidentiality, safety or the like.